What Is Color Magic? Practitioner Sarah Potter Explains

Meet Sarah Potter: curator, Tarot reader, and color magic practitioner from Brooklyn, New York City. Known for her insightful tarot readings, Sarah Potter (@iamsarahpotter) also is not just a magic woman, she's also a well-known artistic director.

You’re a curator, Tarot reader, and color magic practitioner. How do all these different things work together in your craft?

I am totally stimulated by visuals. All three of these facets of my work all feed my "metaphoric well" of inspiration. As a curator, I create experiential exhibitions that explore the ideas of modern-day mysticism and allow viewers to feel the impact of the visual arts on all of their senses. As a Tarot reader, I respond to the visuals of the deck I use with my clients as I intuitively follow the guidance of the story coming through. Through my Color Magic workshops, I give students the tools to use color intuitively in their own lives to evoke specific intentions to positively imp at their own lives. We can use the power of color to change everything, flip our perspectives, and majorly manifest all of our desires. All three of my business are about following your intuition and face to face connection. I want you to FEEL SOMETHING. We need that so badly, right now. Social media is so wonderful and connective, but it can have the opposite effect, too. I want to get people out of their homes, put their screens down, and feel some real connections together. This is one of the main reasons of why I host so many exhibitions, workshops, and lectures in the physical realm and offline.

When did you discover your interest in magic and tarot?

Magic has always been a part of my life. My mom is a very spiritual person and encouraged the development of my intuition from a very early age. I was drawn to witchcraft and Tarot at the same time. I was 12, an age where our power is beginning to awaken and we start to question everything. This is the age in so many cultures and religions where we start to see "rites of adulthood," and it is a time when I feel like a lot of witches feel their call. Honestly, I was completely drawn to the visuals of the covers of the witch books in the spirituality section of Barnes and Noble. (The late '90s had a very interesting aesthetic language going on!) I saw stacks of Tarot decks at this store called East Meets West in the local mall (one of those shops that sold candles and incense and Grateful Dead stuff and dragon sculptures...I have no idea why I was in there at 12). I remember being totally entranced and fixated by all of the imagery of the different decks and purchased myself the Rider-Waite Tarot deck because there was something to intoxicating & powerful about that Magician on the cover of the box. I am still using that deck for readings! My interest in Tarot led me to an interest in witchcraft, so I picked up two books: Silver Ravenwolf's To Ride a Silver Broomstick (with cover art looked like something that would be airbrushed on the side of a purple van, I mean this in the most glamorous way possible) and Helping Yourself with White Witchcraftby Al G Manning. These were pretty crone-y books to pick up as a 12-year-old, but magic is potent and I believe we are drawn to what we need. It has stayed with me ever since.

What is Color Magic?

Color Magic is the practice of using the full color spectrum with specific intention to invoke a magical response. Each color has its own vibration and ability to evoke a specific mood or feeling. Through my Color Magic workshops and lectures, I give people the tools to intentionally use color in their own lives to affect their moods, project who they are to the outside world, and manifest all of their desires. Color is so empowering, and I want everyone to feel that, especially for women and femme-identifying people. Society has conditioned women to not ask for what they want, to not show desire: desire for sex, for money, to conquer our biggest goals and highest aspirations. That has always been the "typically masculine" way of living. I am so over that, and now we are seeing that society is so over that way of thinking. Things are finally starting to change. I want the magic of color to embolden everyone to go after everything they want in this lifetime! It sounds like a lofty goal, right? What does wearing a certain color or painting my bedroom or my nails a certain shade have to do with getting paid the rate I deserve??! I swear, it is all connected. Color can truly be the first step in changing your mindset to bring in everything you have ever wanted. I have been teaching this workshop for over a year now, and I love when past participants come back to me with updates on how color has positively impacted their lives since they started using Color Magic. It's just the best.

What color best represents you?

I love so many colors for their specific intentions, but overall, my favorite color is pink. I love the duality of this potent color. Think about a sweet baby pink versus a vibrant magenta or fuchsia. They both make you feel so differently, right? I think every shade of pink is such a power color. It's the most punk color on the spectrum, a true shaker-upper, and beyond that, it's just such a happy color. Pink is the color of love, and more importantly, self-love. We show others how to treat us, and if we treat ourselves badly, how do we expect others to not do the same? Set the standard, and set it very high! We could all use a little more pink in our lives.

You’re doing an event with Kristen Sollee at the BUST Craftacular—tell me about your event.

Earlier this year, Kristen and I teamed up to create our workshop "Sex & Color Magic: Riding the Rainbow," an introductory class to explore sensual synesthesia and the intersection of sex magic and color magic. We go over the connection between color, sex, and witchcraft with a combination of history and practical application. We will be offering this workshop as part of the BUST School for Creative Living at the BUST Craftacular event on December 9 at the Brooklyn Expo Center. I love working with Kristen and I love this class so much. We also have a really fun activity portion of the workshop, so everyone gets to leave with a little something they create with us.

You’re also a Tarot reader. When did you start reading cards?

I started reading cards when I was 12 years old when I got that Rider-Waite deck from the mall. I have always been a weirdo, but I am very lucky in the fact that I have always been surrounded by other weirdos. My best friend was also a little witch and her mother read cards, so she taught us all about Tarot and how to to do readings. We were doing readings that were very pertinent to middle school girls: who has a crush on us? (I mean, let's be real, the most popular questions clients come to me with is regarding their love life. We never grow out of that, and why should we?) We would hustle our classmates in gym class and do readings for a few dollars. (I have always been an entrepreneur). We definitely got into trouble for that, but if you aren't shaking things up, then are you even doing anything? I have been reading ever since.

As I got older, I became pretty shy about my spirituality and kept it more private, but I continued to use that same deck to help me with all of my decision-making. Magic has always been a part of my life, and a few years ago, after a series of events, I did not want to keep it so secretive. I started talking about it more—how I use my magical practice in my art world business and how it truly encompasses every part of what I do. I was scared that people wouldn't take me seriously or view me as a woo-woo lady on another planet with her head in the clouds. I think it is incredibly important to face your fears, though, and I was blown away by the response. People seemed to respect me more, and my business grew as I was more in touch with my true self. I feel very lucky and privileged to be a woman who is openly a witch and run successful businesses based on that notion.

How long have you been reading Tarot cards?

Over two decades now, can you believe it? And I am always still learning. I love hearing other readers' perspectives on different cards, and I am always seeking new books to read and research so I can be the sharpest I can be for my clients. I want everyone to leave a session with closure on whatever they are seeking.

What Tarot card resonates the most with you?

When I was a teenager, my card was the Three of Swords. Three of Swords?! Who chooses that card?? An emotional teenager totally in her feelings and listening to way too much emo music in the early 2000s. The Three of Swords is the card of heartbreak, the card of utter sorrow and emotional pain. I identified with that card up until a few years ago. After a series of events and my own "awakening," I began a new path to change everything in my life. I had fallen away from my intuition and needs to rebuild a path with my own Divine Feminine. In that moment, I consciously chose to separate myself from the card of emotional pain, and chose a new card, The High Priestess, as my identifier. I love this card so much. The High Priestess is the card of our intuition, the agent of both the conscious and subconscious realms, the keeper of secrets. She reminds me that I hold my own power, and that my own intuition is so powerful and I should allow it to guide me in every aspect of my life: work, personal, the people I surround myself with, and the readings I give to my clients. She symbolizes the Divine Feminine, duality, and our subconscious. She is the ultimate symbol of what being a woman means to me: accepting your shadow side, trusting your instincts, and reveling in your own power. It is okay to feel instead of to think. Isn't she just so amazing and incredible? There is a reason she is the card of so many witches and mystics.

Tell me about your love affair with the Tarot.

I love Tarot so much, I could talk about it all day and all night. Everything is in there. Every story, every feeling, every explanation. Those archetypes hit on everything. Every magical babe has their thing, and Tarot is just the language I resonate with. When I start shuffling those cards and laying them out, I am always confident that whatever my client is questioning, it will be revealed right here. It is literally "all in the cards." And you can't hide from it what it is going to say to you. One of my favorite stories to share is that I was doing a reading for one of my closest friends, and a younger man kept showing up in the cards. I was like, who is this young, promiscuous man??! I had no idea who this guy was, but I kept revealing more and more information, and it turns out that it was a much-younger secret boyfriend she had not told me about yet. And guess what, he was cheating on her, and they were currently having an argument about it. The cards bring it out! She always uses that story to recommend me to other people, and we always laugh about it because you really can't hide anything from me and those cards.

I get a lot of first-timers, which I LOVE, and often people tell me they are a little scared. Am I going to tell you that you are going to die? That's literally the first thing everyone asks me when they are scared—and guess what, guys, we are all going to die, but that's probably not going to come out in our readings. Sometimes I have to deliver some difficult messages, but I always do it with sensitivity.

Tarot is something I feel completely confident in, and I want to share that love with everyone. I take this work very seriously. It's part of the reason I maintain my health and sleep schedule and stay 100 for my clients. A lot of people ask me if I am drained by clients and readings, and honestly, it energizes me. I can do four back-to-back hour-long private sessions and bounce out of the studio to dinner with friends afterwards. This business has brought a new balance and better boundaries into my life. It is so wonderful. I love connecting with clients through this language and being able to offer a new perspective or illuminate what is happening in the shadows for them. Nothing makes me feel better than when clients tell me that changes they have made in their lives after our sessions. I swear, it often happens within hours. We all deserve to live our best lives, and if our Tarot sessions together can be the catalyst, what's better than that?

How can people get in touch with you?

I love connecting with people on social media, especially on Instagram (@iamsarahpotter). I start every day with a daily card pull and intuitive reading for all of my followers which I post on my Story. For a personal reading, send me an email TarotWithSarahPotter@gmail.com. I offer my clients private sessions in their homes or via FaceTime / Skype, and I also have sessions at my studio within Black Iris Tattoo in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. I love being a part of the Black Iris family, which is so much more than a tattoo studio. All of the artists are incredible; there is a little metaphysical shop up front, and they host weekly community workshops about astrology, magick, and so much more.

Lisa Stardust is a NYC based astrologer. Known for her pop culture horoscopes, Stardust adds humor and cultural events to aide others in understanding the stars. Stardust acts a guide for clients to help navigate them through finances, relationships, and other facets of life. Follow her on Instagram @lisastardustastro, on Twitter @lisastardust_, and at listastardust.com.

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